Evidence for mitochondrial genetic control of autosomal gene expression

The mitochondrial and nuclear genomes coordinate and co-evolve in eukaryotes in order to adapt to environmental changes. Variation in the mitochondrial genome is capable of affecting expression of genes on the nuclear genome. Sex-specific mitochondrial genetic control of gene expression has been demonstrated in Drosophila melanogaster, where males were found to drive most of the total variation in gene expression. This has potential implications for male-related health and disease resulting from variation in mtDNA solely inherited from the mother. We used a family-based study comprised of 47,323 gene expression probes and 78 mitochondrial SNPs (mtSNPs) from n = 846 individuals to examine the extent of mitochondrial genetic control of gene expression in humans. This identified 15 significant probe-mtSNP associations (P